


Baby Steps Colleen

by hermioneg1127



Series: ETNuary [1]
Category: Escape the Night (Web Series)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:16:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22240921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hermioneg1127/pseuds/hermioneg1127
Summary: Yes, I’m late. Very late. But hey, at least I’m doing it!
Relationships: Matthew Patrick/Stephanie Patrick, The Detective | Matthew Patrick & The Disco Dancer | Colleen Ballinger
Series: ETNuary [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1600915
Comments: 5
Kudos: 20





	Baby Steps Colleen

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I’m late. Very late. But hey, at least I’m doing it!

It had been three months after Colleen came back to life, and my God was everyone shocked to see her. She, Joey, and Bretman all appeared together in the middle of some northwest state, Idaho or something like that. Not that it mattered. 

The poor family that found them must’ve been terrified when the three of them appeared on their farm, out in the fields with their cows. Their son had been out milking one when a bright light shone for a few seconds before going away, leaving the three survivors on the ground. 

911 was called and the three of them were quickly taken away to the hospital. The doctors knew who they were. After all, a few days after Bretman had gone on this adventure, his family filed a missing persons report. It should’ve only taken a day. 

Questions were asked. Too many, in Colleen’s opinion. Not that it mattered. Nothing mattered to her except for getting back to her family. To seeing her friends again. 

That’s how she ended up here, sitting on the floor next to her husband in Matthew Patrick’s house. Matthew was sitting next to his wife, Stephanie on the bar stools next to the peninsula. Tyler Oakley and Andrea Russett, the survivors of the second disappearance sat by the table with Eva Gutowski and Oli White, the survivors of the first disappearance. Nikita Dragun, the other survivor during the third disappearance, was sitting on the couch, scrolling through her phone.

“He’ll be here soon. He’s running a bit late.” Nikita said. 

“As long as he gets here. That’s what counts.” Matthew glanced at the clock. Bretman was 10 minutes late, though he wasn’t surprised. Nikita grabbed her phone and started frantically texting, most likely to Bretman. 

“Let’s just get started without him.” Colleen suggested. 

“Ok.” Matthew glances over at Stephanie before standing up, “as cheesy as this may sound, you’re all probably wondering why you’re here. But I’m trying to create some sort of documentation of the events that occurred in each of our separate slaughterings. Something isn’t right. I can feel it.”

“Well, I’ll try to help in anyway I can. But honestly I wish this was just over. It’s been apart of my life for four years now. FOUR.” Eva huffed. 

“I completely understand,” Matthew looked at all of the other survivors. “And if you don’t want to help, it’s alright. There’s no shame in that. Just let me know what you decide.”

Colleen looked directly at Matthew, “Hey Matt, can I talk to you for a second.”

“Yeah sure.” Matthew picked up his Diet Coke and headed out of the living room. Colleen followed him into a room and then shut the door. She looked around, noticing the fan art on the walls, the red and blue lights radiating behind the couch. In front of the couch was a coffee table where Matthew had placed his Diet Coke. He sat down on the couch and motioned for Colleen to sit next to him. 

“So listen...” Colleen started as she sat down. “I’ve been having these dreams-“ 

“Of when you died.” Matthew guessed. 

“How’d you know?”

“Out of everyone in that room, you chose to talk to me, the only other person who has been revived by friends, when I know for certain you would’ve talked to Joey or Tyler if it was about anything else revolving around the slaughterings. After all, you didn’t really know me before these events.” Matthew explained. He leaned back on the couch and ruffled his hair a little. It was slowly going from nice and neat to all over the place. 

“Well, you’re right. I’m having dreams about my death.” Colleen shuddered at the thought. Neither of her deaths had been pleasant. One involved being shoved inside of a box and then stabbed by the points inside of it. And the other death was by Minotaur. 

“Which one? Technically you went through two.” Matthew asked. 

“The second one mainly. But on occasion I have nightmares about my first death.” Colleen put her hands under her legs to stop the shaking. “How do you handle it?”

“How do I handle it?” Matthew chuckled. “Well for the first few months I basically didn’t handle it. I was a hot mess. I didn’t eat much, didn’t speak, didn’t take care of myself. Hell, the only reason why I did come back to reality was when Stephanie finally had enough. My first words after months, was ‘I’m sorry’. But now-“ Matthew took a sip of his Diet Coke “-I just remind myself that I’m not there anymore. I remind myself that there are people here that need me. My wife, my son, my cat, my parents.”

“But I can’t get myself out of that reality. I wake up screaming every night.”

“So did I, in the beginning. But it’ll be ok.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I went through it. And now I’m here, happy. It takes baby steps Colleen. You just have to find the first step.”

“Find the first step... got it.” Colleen gave Matthew a small smile. 

“BITCHES! Get your asses out here! Bretman finally showed up!” The two heard Nikita shout from the living. 

“Language!” Matthew shouted back. “Ok, let’s get out there and solve this mystery.” He said to Colleen. 

The two of them stood up and left the room, ready to discuss whatever theory Matthew had come up with, even though he still hadn’t told anyone, only that something ‘wasn’t right’.


End file.
